In the Company of the Courtesan

In the courtesan business love is the worst thing that can happen. The sacking of Renaissance-era Rome forces beautiful Fiammetta Bianchini and her dwarf companion, Bucino, to flee for their lives to the safety of Venice. Stephen Hoye lovingly renders this episodic story with a slow and even pace that mesmerizes the listener with drama and luxurious description. Hoye's accents and characterizations replicate the skills of a great Shakespearean actor--always human but presented on a grand stage. The wonderfully descriptive language is best highlighted in a scene in which a character falls into the murky waters of the city and nearly drowns. While love is a bane to the courtesan, listeners are guaranteed to fall in love with this tale of art, beauty, and loss. R.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award [Editor's Note: A soundreview is also available at Audiopolis, www.audiofilemagazine.com.] (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from October 24, 2005
Renaissance Italy enchants in Dunant's delicious second historical (after The Birth of Venus
), as a wily dwarf Bucino Teodoldo recounts fantastic escapades with his mistress, celebrated courtesan Fiammetta Bianchini. Escaping the 1527 sacking of Rome with just the clothes on their backs (and a few swallowed jewels in their bellies), Fiammetta and Bucino seek refuge in Venice. Starved, stinking, her beauty destroyed, Fiammetta despairs—but through cunning, will, Bucino's indefatigable loyalty and the magic of a mysterious blind healer called La Draga, she eventually recovers. Aided by a former adversary, who now needs her as much as she needs him, Fiammetta finds a wealthy patron to establish her in her familiar glory. Through Bucino's sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued narration, Dunant crafts a vivid vision of Venetian life: the weave of politics and religion; the layers of class; the rituals, intrigue, superstitions and betrayals. Dunant's characters—the steely courtesan whose glimpse of true love nearly brings her to ruin; the shrewd and passionate dwarf who turns his abnormalities into triumph; and the healer whose mysterious powers and secrets leave an indelible mark on the duo—are irresistible throughout their shifting fortunes.

This book suffers greatly from its abridgment. Richard E. Grant is a superb, energetic storyteller. But as he builds the tension in the story--a sixteenth-century Roman courtesan and her dwarf companion escape the sack of Rome, flee to Venice, and struggle to reignite her career amidst the exotic canals and glorious palazzos--the plot suddenly lurches years ahead, with crucial plot and character development abandoned. Why does Bucino, the dwarf, have such deep feelings for certain characters when we have learned so little about them? The story feels as gutted as a hapless Roman before the onslaught of the infidels, and only makes one wish for the unabridged version--in Grant's voice. A.M.D. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

October 1, 2006
Dunant (The Birth of Venus ) has once again secured her place as a best-selling author with this portrait of memorable characters living in volatile Renaissance Italy. This multilayered work is so elegantly written it is almost poetic in its language. Skillfully narrated by Bucino, the dwarf companion of the famous and sophisticated courtesan Fiammetta Bianchini, herself the child of a courtesan, this gripping story is about much more than sex; it deals with ever-changing feelings, friendship and loyalty, war and betrayal, politics and religion, and class differences. Fleeing the 1527 sack of Rome, Fiammetta and Bucino lose their wealth and position and are forced to start over in Venice. Stephen Hoye does a wonderful reading job; he has the ability to convey emotion and believable accents. Recommended for libraries with historical fiction collections. Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania

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